''X'' is the tenth studio album by American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band

Spock's Beard Spock's Beard is an American progressive rock band formed in Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1992 by brothers Neal (lead vocals, keyboards) and Alan Morse (vocals, guitars), John Ballard (bass) and Nick D'Virgilio (drums). Ballard was r ...

. Similar to what Marillion did for '' Anoraknophobia'', the album was funded by

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

s of a

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of the album before the album was recorded. Those who ordered the album's "Ultra Package" had their names listed in the CD booklet and included as part of the track "Their Names Escape Me", which is exclusive to the limited edition. The album was released independently in May 2010. A retail and digital release with Mascot Records was released in August 2010. This album is the last studio album recorded with

Nick D'Virgilio Nicholas D'Virgilio (born November 12, 1968), often referred to as NDV, is an American drummer, singer and guitarist, best known as a member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Col ...

performing lead vocals, who left the band on November 18, 2011, to focus on other commitments. He rejoined the band in 2017 to play on the ''

Noise Floor In signal theory, the noise floor is the measure of the signal created from the sum of all the noise sources and unwanted signals within a measurement system, where noise is defined as any signal other than the one being monitored. In radio com ...

'' release, however his future in the band remains unknown.

Track listing

Notes
The above track listing is for the special edition. There are a few changes with the standard edition: * "The Emperor's Clothes" and "Kamikaze" are swapped over in the track listing. * "From the Darkness" has a slightly longer running time of 17:09. * "Their Names Escape Me" is not included.

Critical reception

The ''X'' release continued the shift back to the classic Spock's Beard sound and is considered the strongest of the

era releases. Sputnik Music said, "X is a winner on all fronts. It’s truly a triumph and a further validation of their post-Morse configuration. Spock’s Beard had rediscovered the spark that had made them so great before: every song is carefully elaborated and flows very well." Metal Reviews reported, "X is without a doubt the band’s best record with this line-up and can be easily added into the upper echelon of their works overall."

Personnel

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and backing vocals, drums, additional

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s *

Alan Morse Alan Morse (born August 22, 1958) is an American guitarist of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He is the brother of co-founder Neal Morse, who left the band in 2002. Morse is married to Kathryn Morse and has two children, Julia and John. ...

– guitars, backing vocals *

Ryo Okumoto Ryo Okumoto (奥本亮, born May 24, 1959) is a Japanese rock keyboardist, best known for his work with progressive rock group Spock's Beard. He joined the band in 1996 and has been a member ever since. When singer and keyboardist Neal Morse wa ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Dave Meros Dave Meros (born 8 February 1956), is an American bass guitar player, best known as the bass player for progressive rock band Spock's Beard. Meros has also played or recorded with such artists as Gary Myrick, Bobby Kimball of Toto, Simon Phil ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals, additional keyboards Additional personnel *Stan Ausmus - songwriting *John Boegehold – additional keyboards, guitar, vocals, songwriting *

Jimmy Keegan James E. Keegan (born November 3, 1969) is an American drummer and voice actor. He has played with artists such as Santana, as the drummer on the song "Primavera" on Santana's hit album ''Supernatural'' and with John Waite. He was the drummer ...

– backing vocals Production *Rich Mouser – recording, mixing, mastering

References

{{Authority control 2010 albums Spock's Beard albums